Determinants of households’ willingness pay for water and electricity in Moletjie under Aganang municipality, Limpopo province, South Africa

The purpose of this paper was to profile the socioeconomic characteristics of household members and determine the factors affecting households’ willingness to pay for water and electricity in Moletji, Aganang Local Municipality. Data was collected through key informant interviews, group discussions and household surveys from a total of 120 households using the probability proportional to sample size technique. The study showed that sampled households were dissatisfied with the unreliable water and electricity services (73%) but were willing to pay to secure reliable water and electricity services (87%). The empirical evidence from the ordered logit model indicates that the willingness to pay for water and electricity was significantly influenced by gender, number of adult equivalents, household size, total household expenditure, employment status, total household income above total average household income, sources of income and connection charges. These results have policy implications for government and other stakeholders in response to the dissatisfaction with water and electricity supply services. For example, research findings reinforce the need to focus on investing in building institutions, improving access to water, electricity and micro-credit, and create employment opportunities to improve the overall living standards. This paper recommends that collective action be taken by community members and policymakers to improve access to water and electricity at household level.